| | |
Summary: Frequency-Dependent Selection Predicts Patterns of
Radiations and Biodiversity
Carlos J. Melia´n1,2
*, David Alonso3
, Diego P. Va´zquez4,5
, James Regetz1
, Stefano Allesina6
1 National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America, 2 Center for Ecology,
Evolution and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Kastanienbaum, Switzerland, 3 Community and Conservation Ecology Group,
University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands, 4 Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas A´ ridas, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cienti´ficas y
Te´cnicas, Mendoza, Argentina, 5 Instituto de Ciencias Ba´sicas, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Centro Universitario, Mendoza, Argentina, 6 Department of Ecology and
Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
Abstract
Most empirical studies support a decline in speciation rates through time, although evidence for constant speciation rates
also exists. Declining rates have been explained by invoking pre-existing niches, whereas constant rates have been
attributed to non-adaptive processes such as sexual selection and mutation. Trends in speciation rate and the processes
underlying it remain unclear, representing a critical information gap in understanding patterns of global diversity. Here we
show that the temporal trend in the speciation rate can also be explained by frequency-dependent selection. We construct
a frequency-dependent and DNA sequence-based model of speciation. We compare our model to empirical diversity
patterns observed for cichlid fish and Darwin's finches, two classic systems for which speciation rates and richness data exist.
|
